I ordered a GC coilover kit for my Forester. :biggrin: Current set: Springs: Front : RCE Wagon Rear : Prodrive 05+ STI Struts: Tokico D-Spec Fender to wheel center: Front : 13 3/4" Rear : 13 1/2" Ground Control setup: Springs: Front : 10" - 350 lb/in Rear : 10" - 250 lb/in Struts: Tokico D-Spec Basically, I'm bumping up spring rates 25% and bumping up ride height around 2" to gain more bump travel and ground clearance. The high spring rates are chosen because they are just within the limit of the D-Specs and will maintain good on-road handling with the height adjustment. This also puts me about smack dab in the center of the strut stroke range for more practical functionality off-road. I'm curious at what point the spring/damper rates become detrimental for rally-x use, but so far, I feel more constrained by bump travel then traction due to spring rates. There is a lot of force gong into the chassis as it is now though. I just haven't noticed traction problems yet. Here's to hoping another 25% won't make a world of difference in the dirt. It's not like I'm not using the bump stops and higher effective rates already anyways. :laugh: Expected Fender to wheel center: Front : 15 1/2" Rear : 15 1/4" I'll note this is still around 1 3/4" lower then a stock Forester and on par with the Swift FXT sport springs available for the Forester which look like this...I'll just be twice as stiff : (Forester on Swift FXT springs, very similar to what the GC kit will sit at) I'll upload some pics of the struts and the new stance as I get them installed. I won't be doing anything till the weekend when I can get a hold of a grinder bigger then a dremel to take off the perches. More pics to come on the weekend.
That'd be me. I know of no one else in Mankato with a blue Forester and no one in the state with a lowered one. :laugh: Hehe, just noticed I completely forgot the GC kit pics...added.
pretty much the exact setup I was about to buy about 4mths ago... but decided to hold of for budget reasons... now you got me drooling... are you using tokico's for a wrx or a Foz???
Just be aware of the tires you run. You'll want 25" tall if you intend to run anything greater then 225 to fit under the rear sedan perch. This is partially why I'm going to the GC setup, to get rid of the perches and allow for Forester spec sizing. The springs will still potentially be in the way at some point, but it's less so then with the perch. The Forester fender well can support up to around 27.5" or so, only bound by the fender molding on the front when steering. This just gives me some more tire freedom.
It's a 25.5" tall tire and 235. That is close, but doesn't rub. It also depends upon the wheel offset you run. You run a +35mm, nothing will rub on the strut, but the fender will maw down your tire. :laugh: Mine were 245/45/R17, 26" and a little wider, on a +48mm offset wheel. It rubbed. A 235 on a +45mm offset would rub nothing. Oh, sorry about pics, bandwidth exceeded. It'll get reset at the beginning of the month (tomorrow) or soon thereafter.
They're on. I've done some minimal driving and adjust the struts a little. Initial impressions are good. I have spring on the right rear rubbing against the threaded collar, but that's about it. I'll have to look at it tomorrow and see what I can do. I can always cut the collar shorter and fix it too. Initial ride height is 15 3/4" front, 16" rear. I can knock the rear down a half inch. It has a little preload on it at the moment. 15 3/4" front and 15 1/2" rear seem to be as low as it goes at zero preload, a quarter inch more then expected, and exactly 2" up from the RCE/Prodrive combo. The ride isn't bad. Rates are bumped up 25% and now completely linear. Even so, ride comfort is improved on rough surfaces simply because there's more bump stroke. I need to tweak the dampers more. I've only done some quick guess adjustment and a couple blind adjustments...for the worse. I should probably look at the numbers and see where I'm actually supposed to be, haha. There's a little more body roll since I'm up off the bump stops now. I get a little more compression when cornering. It feels good, but it's slightly different. It's tough to say until I set dampers right. A lot of dynamics is bound to that. No pics yet. This week is a test week. I'm checking function and see if I like it. Next weekend I'll lop off the perches and seal my fate. :laugh: I should be quite content once I get dampers dialed and get the rear to stop rubbing when compressing. I need to order some dust boots too. There were numerous mentions to Napa having universal ones that work. Napa does not, and the guy there was annoyed that it is so often mentioned, referring to some off-roading show, since they can not even order any.
There's a thread on nasioc where someone mentions an exact Napa part number for boots that fit over (IIRC) the 2.5" ID springs. Link: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17560663&highlight=Napa#post17560663 I think I looked it up online (found it again: http://www.napaonline.com/NOLPPSE/(S(k2xmfrjshtskxgb1x0tz0zb0))/Detail.aspx?R=NS_63619_0131627260, spendy - there's gotta be something cheaper out there that will work just as well) and saw it, but that was months ago. I need to cut my perches off and put boots on this summer, too. Napa part #:63619
Yeah, I've seen that thread. I was figuring I could just stop in Napa and pick some up. Nope. Now I'm just going to grab some online, either Napa or someplace like Jegs or something, wherever available. I worked through the numbers and reset my dampers appropriately. Much better. :laugh: I forgot that car weight affects damper setting, so I was guessing on what I used for the much heavier front end. Right now, front dampers are maxed, full hard, and the rear is at 4 1/2" turns. The rear feels very good. The front is a hair soft, but I can't fix that with the dampers. I do plan on getting a carbon fiber hood, and that will knock some weight off the front, raising the effective dampening and should just correct things. It should feel really good after that. The ride is firm. It's decent, similar to before. There's a little firmer jolt on bumps due to the higher relative dampening. I think rally-x would be ok, but it's getting pretty stiff on bumps. I could lower dampening and gain ground there, but it's a trade-off. I plan to run a dedicated set of tires, and they'll be on 16" rims. I may just shoot for tall sidewalls as the trick. We'll see. Pavement handing is good. It's still a slight matter of balance, but things are close. I'll be curious how the car feels when the summers go back on next weekend. I may start disliking some of the rougher roads that I drive on. :laugh:
Looks good. Just remember, what you think is stiff enough is often too stiff in regards to dampers. You missed a quiz in fluids btw.
I almost bought that exact set of coilovers for my FXT but after some very tedious measuring decided there wasn't enough clearance with my tires to the lower spring perch to be able to get them (with my 245 wide tires). That would have been a kick ass setup though.
Oh crap!!! :laugh: I was expecting that. Hurray for the makeups. :biggrin: Stiff enough is enough to properly control the chassis. For me and the D-Specs, this is very near 100% rebound. Bump dampening is around 50%. Yes, they say 70% is "ideal." I want enough dampening to where the chassis doesn't flop around and not so much where the car falls after every bump because the tire can drop fast enough (problem of the common high rebound design). The best setup is the one where the chassis "floats" down the road. If you can get to this point, you've done the best you can. It's the point where the tires are mostly in contact with the road. You can be low and still maintain good contact, but the ride isn't the greatest. If you're high, you'll be off the road quite a bit. I'm aware that some folks run overly stiff while other folks run overly soft, just picking random damper settings that somehow mean something. I pick what functions best. When I say I have my front struts maxed, it's because that's what's needed. I specifically picked the 350 lb/in spring rate because it just maxed out the struts. It's the stiffest I'm capable of running. I was actually hoping I was just slightly under, but I'm really at the limit of the struts. My only fix now is to lighten the front end, which was already planned. My compromise is the damper design. The D-Spec runs a 1:2 to 1:2.25 compression:rebound ratio. Generally to get enough overall chassis control, I am forced to run a relatively higher rebound rate. If it's too high, I'll have problems with the tire not dropping fast enough. The car gets skittish over bumps. If you go low, then the ride is overally bouncy, and there's poor chassis control. Too low of bump control makes for kind of power handling too. This is specifically why I swapped from AGX to D-Spec, plus the adjustability. I was finding myself either running too high of rebound to get a desirable amount of compression dampening or just enough rebound and somewhat low compression dampening. The AGX is more like 1:2.25 to 1:2.5. Along with the coarse 4-way adjustment, it was too much of a compromise for my goals.
Minor tweaking, I knocked the rear right spring straight, so no there's zero rubbing. I twisted the spring around and smacked it with my hand. The spring jerked straight. I think the top perch piece wasn't quite flat. It's all pretty good now. Driving around, I'm really getting to like this setup. The bump travel is useful over rough stuff, and despite the 25% rise in spring rate and damper rate, the ride is overall nicer, dare I say more comfy. Handling is good and basically what I was shooting for. The car drives pretty neutral and with the stiffer setup is a touch more point and shoot now. Turn in is quicker but at the same time, there's a little more body movement, but the whole thing is firm and tame to work with. The car as a whole is pretty fun to drive. There isn't anything to complain about really other then having to lighten up the front end a hair so I actually have enough damper control. It's minor, but the front end has a just a little extra bounding going down rougher roads then it should. Planned carbon fiber hood for the win. :biggrin: I'll snap a couple car pics tomorrow.
